Jefferys Taylor was a member of a dynasty and writers and artists who flourished in the first half of the 19th century. He was born on 30 October 1792 and died on 8 October 1853
Jefferys Taylor was the youngest son of Isaac Taylor by his wife, Ann Martin, and was born at Lavenham. Soon after his birth, he was pictured as a nursling in his mother's arms in the background of his father's painting of the family, now in the National Portrait Gallery, London. [1] He was educated under his father as an engraver and apprenticed at Lavenham. Possessed of considerable ingenuity, he eventually profited from the invention of a machine for engraving parallel lines. [2]
Many of his brothers and sisters became writers, and Jefferys followed them, particularly as a children's author. His subjects were varied and distinguished by humour and fancy. His first novel, Harry's Holiday or the doings of one who had nothing to do (London, 1818), [3] went through several editions. Two centuries on, its unsentimental view of childhood has been perceived as a forerunner of Lord of the Flies . [4] His next publication was self-illustrated and in verse, Æsop in Rhyme, with some originals (London, 1820), and also saw many editions. Other books were deliberately educational and included The Little Historians: a new Chronicle of the affairs of England in church and state in three volumes (London 1824); Parlour Commentaries on the Constitution and Laws of England (London, 1825); [5] The Forest, or rambles in the woodland (London, 1831); [6] and The Farm, a new account of rural toils and produce (London, 1832). [7] Some of these also carried his own illustrations and were published in the U.S. as well.
On 20 June, 1826, Jefferys married Sophia Mabbs, by whom he had a son, Edward, who died young. [2] He himself died at Broadstairs as the result of a stroke on 8 October, 1853. [8]
Philip Henry Gosse FRS, known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of marine biology. Gosse created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and coined the term "aquarium" when he published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea, in 1854. His work was the catalyst for an aquarium craze in early Victorian England.
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.
Capel Lofft was a British lawyer, writer and amateur astronomer.
Arthur Young FRS was an English agriculturist. Not himself successful as a farmer, he built on connections and activities as a publicist a substantial reputation as an expert on agricultural improvement. After the French Revolution of 1789, his views on its politics carried weight as an informed observer, and he became an important opponent of British reformers. Young is considered a major English writer on agriculture, although he is best known as a social and political observer. Also read widely were his Tour in Ireland (1780) and Travels in France (1792).
John Richard Jefferies was an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influence on him and provides the background to all his major works of fiction.
Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester was Justiciar of England 1155–1168.
Abhijnanashakuntalam, also known as Shakuntala, The Recognition of Shakuntala, The Sign of Shakuntala, and many other variants, is a Sanskrit play by the ancient Indian poet Kālidāsa, dramatizing the story of Śakuntalā told in the epic Mahābhārata and regarded as best of Kālidāsa's works. Its exact date is uncertain, but Kālidāsa is often placed in the 4th century CE.
The London Magazine is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics.
Sir Clement Higham, or Heigham, of Barrow, Suffolk, was an English lawyer and politician, a Speaker of the House of Commons in 1554, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1558–1559. A loyal Roman Catholic, he held various offices and commissions under Queen Mary, and was knighted in 1555 by King Philip, but withdrew from politics after the succession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558.
Elizabeth, Princess Berkeley, sometimes unofficially styled Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, previously Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven, of Hamstead Marshall, was an author and playwright, perhaps best known for her travelogues.
Mary Elizabeth Mann, née Rackham, was a celebrated English novelist in the 1890s and early 1900s. She also wrote short stories, primarily on themes of poverty and rural English life. As an author she was commonly known as Mary E. Mann.
John White was a Headmaster and Warden of Winchester College during the English Reformation who, remaining staunchly Roman Catholic in duty to his mentor Stephen Gardiner, became Bishop of Lincoln and finally Bishop of Winchester during the reign of Queen Mary. For several years he led the college successfully through very difficult circumstances. A capable if somewhat scholastic composer of Latin verse, he embraced the rule of Philip and Mary enthusiastically and vigorously opposed the Reformation theology.
Selina Davenport was an English novelist, briefly married to the miscellanist and biographer Richard Alfred Davenport. Her eleven published novels have been recently described as "effective if stereotyped".
Isaac Taylor (1759–1829) of Ongar was an English engraver and writer of books for the young.
Sir Edmund Rous, of Dunwich, Suffolk, was an English landowner, magistrate, MP and Vice-Treasurer of Ireland.
Charles Taylor (1756–1823) was an English engraver, known also as a man of letters and biblical scholar.
Helen Taylor (1818–1885) was an English writer of books for children.
Keble Howard was the pen name of John Keble Bell. He was an English writer and journalist, who wrote a large number of novels, short stories, sketches and plays, mainly light comic pieces, often depicting suburban life. One contemporary literary commentator described Howard as "a highly successful novelist and a moderately successful playwright".
George Henry Evison was a Lancastrian artist and book illustrator who illustrated many cheaper books with his strong line drawings. He illustrated magazines with both line drawings and colour wash drawings.